Norway - Current Account Balance

For Norway, the Balance of Payments statistics describe economic transactions between residents and non-residents. They are an integrated part of the National Accounts using the same principles and definitions, and give an exact mirror image of the sector "Rest of The World" in the National Accounts.

The international investment position (IIP) covers the stock of external financial assets and liabilities. A direct investment is defined as an investor who owns 20 percent or more of the ordinary shares or voting power in a foreign enterprise; this follows Nowegian accounting standards.

Gross external debt is (per BPM6) the outstanding amount of those actual current, and not contingent, liabilities that require payment of principal and/or interest by the debtor in the future and that are owed to nonresidents by residents of an economy.

Active:

• Framework: IMF BPM6
• Measurement: Millions of Norwegian kroner (Mil. NOK)
• Adjustment: Not seasonally adjusted (NSA)
• Native frequency: Quarterly
• Start dates:
  • 1981Q1
  • 2001Q3
  • 2005Q1 for IIP transactions
  • 2012Q1 for IIP stock

Predecessors:

• Monthly - 2001m9 to 2004m12
• BPM5 for BOP - 1981Q1 to 2014Q2 ("_B5")
• BPM5 for external debt - 2003Q1 to 2014Q2 ("_B5")
• 1981Q1 to 2011Q2 ("11")

The Norwegian Balance of Payments is presented in accordance with the latest internationally approved guidelines, as specified in the IMF's "Balance of Payments Manual, 6th edition" (BPM6), which uses principles and definitions as per the UN-IMF manual "System of National Accounts 2008" (SNA 2008), and the EU's manual "European System of Accounts 2010" (ESA 2010).

The Balance of Payments consists of three main parts:

• Current account - shows current transactions with the rest of the world: exports and imports of goods and services, compensation of employees, investment income and expenditure, current transfers.
• Capital account - shows capital transactions
• Financial account - records investment transactions in the form of purchases and sales of financial instruments.

Revised annual data are published about 11 months after the accounting year, and final annual data about 23 months after. Quarterly data are subsequently reconciled with the final annual data.

Further reading

At the source:

• http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/09/03/ur_en/about.html

At IMF (SDDS):

• Balance of payments (Jan 2020 / Jan 2022)
• International investment position (Jan 2020 / Jan 2022)
• External debt (Jan 2018 / Jan 2022)

• Sep 2005 - Initial version.
• Dec 2014 - Framework advanced to BPM6.
• 26 Oct 2023, Phillip Thorne - Addendum of IIP: Properties, Further reading.
• 13 Nov 2023, Phillip Thorne - Addendum of defunct external debt.